History of Windham County, Connecticut, Part 91

Author: Bayles, Richard M. (Richard Mather)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: New York, Preston
Number of Pages: 1506

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In 1757 a road was laid out from Danielson's bridge to Volun- town line, near a saw mill called John Priest's. The bridge built by Samuel Cutler over the Quinebaug at the Falls, was next examined by the selectmen and found "rotten and defect- ive, and not safe to pass over." It was then voted, " To build that part of the bridge that belongs to Killingly to build, Ed- ward Converse to build it and proceed speedily to do the same." In 1767 Briant and Nathaniel Brown and Benjamin Leavens were appointed "to join with Pomfret gentlemen in repairing the bridge called Danielson's." However well repaired, it was soon carried away by a freshet, and a new committee appointed in 1770, "to rebuild our part of the bridge at Cargill's Mills, and view the Quinebaug above and below where Danielson's bridge stood, and see where they could set a bridge." William Daniel- son was allowed twenty-nine pounds for building half the latter bridge, and a new road was laid out from it to Voluntown. In 1774 the Quinebaug was bridged between Cargill's and Daniel- son's, near the residence of Deacon Simon Cotton.

A new road was laid out about 1795, from the country road near Doctor Hutchins' dwelling house, running east to Mr. Day's

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

meeting house, through lands of Penuel and Zadoc Hutchins, Samuel Stearns, Wilson Kies, James Danielson and the sons of Deacon Jacob Spalding. The petition for an open highway through lands of William Torrey, heirs of Reverend John Fisk and others, was opposed for a time, but finally granted. A new road was also allowed from Jonathan and Philip Dexter's to Cut -. ler's bridge, in the eastern part of the town. An act of the county court obliged the selectmen to lay out a road from the road near Edward Babbitt's, on Chestnut hill, to the meeting · house in the north parish. A jury met at Sampson Howe's in December, 1799, and laid out a road from Captain John Day's through lands of Carpenter, Alexander, Kelly, Leavens, Howe, Whipple and Warren. After much discussion it was decided, in 1801, "to lay out a turnpike from the Norwich turnpike, in Pomfret, to the turnpike in Gloucester." This Pomfret and Killingly turnpike, passing over Killingly hill by the meeting house, was accomplished in 1803, but the exhausted town de- clined to build half the new bridge needed for its accommoda- tion till cited before the court to answer for its negligence. The bridge was then built, but not being built in a substantial and workmanlike manner, it was soon carried away by high water, and the town thus involved in fresh difficulties and arbitra- tions.

Many new roads were demanded for the accommodation of the manufacturing interests, in which this town was involved in the early part of the century. The town accepted a road laid out from Danielson's Factory to the country road near the dwell- ing house of Solomon Sikes, at the same time declining responsi- bility for the bridge over Five Mile river, and voted not to op- pose a road from Danielson's to the house of Reverend Israel Day, and thence to Rhode Island line. This new road to Prov- idence was very needful for the transportation of goods and cot- ton. The mercantile operations of Captain Alexander Gaston, who had removed from Sterling to South Killingly, were also greatly benefitted thereby. His flourishing store added greatly to the importance of South Killingly. He was accustomed to buy large quantities of goods in New York, and when his ships were expected to arrive in Providence, the farmers of this neighborhood would hurry down to haul them up to his place of business in Killingly.

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

The mill privilege on the Five Mile river, afterward occupied by "the Howe Factory," was in 1760 improved by Jared Talbot and David Perry, who accommodated the neighborhood with sawing and grinding. In August, 1807, James Danielson, Zadoc and James Spalding asked liberty to build a dam on the Quine- baug, between Brooklyn and Killingly. The relations between the Windham towns and their Rhode Island neighbors had been always most intimate and friendly. Providence was their most accessible market. Their first public work was to open a way to that town. Now that the era of manufacturing was opening, those intimate relations were intensified. Killingly caught the spirit of manufacturing enterprise. Walter Paine and Israel Day of Providence, William Reed, Ira and Stephen Draper of Attleborough, Ebenezer and Comfort Tiffany, John Mason and Thaddeus Larned of Thompson, William Cundall, Sr. and Jr., joined with Danielson and Hutchins in the Danielsonville Man- ufacturing Company of Killingly.

The manufacturing excitement raged with great violence in this town, its numerous rivers offering such convenient facilities that her own citizens were able to embark in such enterprises with less foreign aid than was requisite in other towns. "Dan- ielson's Factory," at the Quinebaug Falls, enjoyed a high place in popular favor, its twenty liberal handed stockholders, mostly town residents, prosecuting its various business affairs with much energy. William Reed served most efficiently for many years as its agent. Its well filled store was managed for many years by the Tiffany Brothers, from Rhode Island.

The "Stone Chapel," on the present site of the Attawaugan, was built by Captain John and Ebenezer Kelly, for John Mason of Thompson, in 1810, but did not get into successful operation for some years, when John, James B. and Edward Mason, Jr., were incorporated as the "Stone Chapel Manufacturing Com- pany." Messrs. John Mason and Harvey Blashfield had the over- sight of this establishment. The tallow candles needed for its morning and evening service were dipped by Miss Harriet Kelly, in batches of forty dozen at a time.

The privilege on the Five Mile river, long occupied by Tal- bot's grist mill, passed into the hands of the Killingly Manu- facturing Company in 1814. Its constituent members were: Rufus Waterman, Thomas Thompson, John Andrews, of Provi- dence; David Wilkinson, Henry Howe, of North Providence;

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

Doctor Robert Grosvenor, Jedidiah Sabin, Elisha Howe, Ben- jamin Greene, of Killingly; Smith Wilkinson, Eleazer Sabin, of Pomfret. The Howes had charge of the business, and the fac- tory soon built was called by their name.

The remarkable descent of the Whetstone brook furnished privileges quite out of proportion to its volume of water. The first Chestnut Hill Company to take advantage of this fall was constituted by Joseph Harris, Ebenezer Young, Calvin Leffing- well, Asa Alexander, George Danielson and Lemuel Stark- weather, whose wheels and spindles were soon competing with those of other manufacturers.

The greatest spirit and activity prevailed in these growing villages. Everybody was hard at work, building, digging, planting, carting, weaving, spinning, picking cotton, making harnesses, dipping candles, and attending the thousand wants of the hour. The intense mechanical activity of the time was manifested by a remarkable feminine achievement, the exercise. of the inventive faculty hitherto dormant in the female mind. Mrs. Mary Kies of South Killingly, invented " a new and useful improvement in weaving straw with silk or thread," for which she obtained in May, 1809, the first patent issued to any woman in the United States, and she is also said to have been the first female applicant. Mrs. President Madison expressed her gratification by a complimentary note to Mrs. Kies. The fabrication of this graceful and ingenious complication was thus added to the other industries of Killingly.

Killingly's excessive activity during the war of 1812 was fol- lowed by corresponding depression. Mills owned by men of moderate means were generally closed, and those still kept at work did so at pecuniary loss to the proprietors. Experiments in machinery and modes of working were meanwhile tested, power looms introduced, and many improvements effected. Companies were reorganized, new men and capital brought in, and when business revived, Killingly mills were soon under fresh headway. In 1819 the town had so far recovered from its losses as to report four factories in operation, all of which con- tained about five thousand spindles, and had been erected at an expense, including buildings and machinery, of nearly $300,000. At the Danielson Manufactory water looms had been intro- duced, and in general the business was carried on upon the most improved principles and very advantageously. Besides the cot-

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

ton factories there were one woolen factory, one gin distillery, one paper hanging manufactory, four dye houses, three clothiers' works, three carding machines, three tanneries, eight grain mills and eight saw mills. Experiments in straw weaving were brought to an untimely end by a sovereign decree from the supreme ar- biter of fashion, and hopes of pecuniary profit proved as brittle as the straw with which Mrs. Kies had wrought out her ingen- ious invention. Her son, Daniel Kies, Esq., of Brooklyn, as well as friends at home, lost heavily by investing in a manufacture, which, by a sudden change of fashion, became utterly valueless.

Killingly is reported by Barber in 1836, "the greatest cotton manufacturing town in the State." Its reputation and resources had been magnified by the building up of Williamsville on the Quinebaug, and Dayville on the Five Mile river. Dayville was commended "for its neat appearance, and for a bridge com- posed of two finely constructed stone arches, each 25 feet broad and 12 high." Captain John Day sold two-thirds of this privilege to Prosper and William Alexander, and joined them in building and equipping a cotton factory in 1832. Caleb Williams of Prov- idence, purchased the Quinebaug privilege, and erected a hand- some stone building in 1827. Danielson's mills had passed into the hands of the sons of General Danielson, and began to be noted " as a thriving village." The temperance reform had swept away the distillery at Mason's factory, and "Gin-town " was transferred into Ruggles' factory. The Killingly Company owning Howe's factory was reorganized in 1828. Smaller fac- tories on the Five Mile river were run by Ballou and Amsbury. The carding machine on the outlet of Alexander's lake had been superseded by a woolen factory. Great activity prevailed in the east part of the town, where some half dozen mills were propelled by the lively little Whetstone, under the patronage of Ebenezer Young, Richard Bartlett, Prosper Leffingwell, Asa Alexander, John S. Harris, Thomas Pray and others. An ag- gregate of twenty-five thousand spindles was reported, with three woolen mills, one furnace and one axe factory. In 1840 Killingly boasted the largest population in Windham county, having gained upon Thompson, which stood at the head in 1830.

Among the early manufacturing interests of Killingly was that of Calvin Leffingwell, a native of Pomfret, who came to East Killingly in 1828, and in company with Jedidiah Leav-

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ens built a mill for the manufacture of cotton cloth, of twenty- four looms. This mill, after running many years and passing into other hands, was burned and not rebuilt. Mr. Leffingwell died at Danielsonville in 1872.

The first movement in the direction of establishing the Gospel ministry in Killingly was in 1708, when the court granted "liberty to the inhabitants of Killingly to survey and lay out one hundred acres of land within their township for the use and encouragement of a minister to settle there and carry on the worship of God among them." A hundred acres of land for the first settled minister were also pledged to the town by Captain Chandler, in presence and with concurrence of the selectmen.

The first minister was Reverend John Fisk, of Braintree, Mass., a son of Reverend Moses Fisk and a graduate of Har- vard. His work probably began about 1710, religious services being held in private houses, alternating between different parts of the town. July 16th, 1711, the town agreed to give Mr. Fisk three hundred and fifty acres of land for his encour- agement to settle in the work of the ministry. Two hundred acres were laid out on French river, which were afterward proved to be beyond the bounds of Killingly. Seventy-five acres were laid out on the western slope of Killingly hill and seventy- five on Assawaga or Five Mile river. Stated religious services were probably held after this date by Mr. Fisk, though some years passed before his settlement, neighborhood ministers meanwhile being called in to administer baptism and other sac- raments as occasion required.

In the summer of 1714, the meeting house was raised and covered. Its site was east of the Plainfield road, about one-fourth of a mile south of the present East Putnam meeting house. Nothing is known of its size and appearance, or of the circum- stances of its building. In the ensuing summer it was made ready for occupation, and preparations made for church organ- ization. September 15th, 1715, was observed in Killingly as a day of solemn fasting and prayer, preparatory to the gathering of a church and the ordination of a pastor. October 19th, 1715, a church was organized, and Reverend John Fisk ordained the pastor of it. The original members were: John Fisk, James Danielson, Peter Aspinwall, James Leavens, Sampson Howe, Ebenezer Balman, Richard Bloosse, George Blanchard, Isaac

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

Jewett, Thomas Gould and Stephen Grover. Sixteen additional communicants were admitted into the church before the close of the year. December 29th, 1715, Peter Aspinwall and Eleazer Balman were chosen deacons. The first marriage recorded by the young minister was that of William Larned to Hannah, the first of the seven notable daughters of Simon Bryant. The only incident of his domestic life that has come down to us is the burning of his house and all its contents one Sabbath when the family were attending public worship. The ministry of Rever- end Mr. Fisk was acceptable and prosperous, and large numbers were added to the church. His pastoral charge comprehended also the inhabitants north of Killingly. The hundred acres of land given by Captain Chandler to the first settled minister of Killingly were laid out to him in 1712, west of Five Mile river, a half mile east of the meeting house.

This church prospered for a while. A season of special re- ligious interest in 1728-9 added sixty to its membership. Elea- zer Bateman, Jr., was chosen deacon in 1730, and Haniel Clark in 1733. Mr. Fisk remained in the pastorate till July 8th, 1741, when he was dismissed at his own request. During his ministry he had performed 463 baptisms, and admitted 254 members into full communion and 148 to the " half-way covenant."

A protracted meeting house controversy followed the dismis- sion of Mr. Fisk. It was decided to build a new meeting house, and at the same time a division of the First society into two was contemplated. The people of each prospective society wished to have the new meeting house located so that it would fall within their own bounds when the division should be made. The northern people wished it to stand near the old church, on Killingly hill, while the southern people wished it to be located on Breakneck hill. In October, 1743, the assembly, after hear- ing the case and reports of committees, decided that the latter site, which was nearly central to the society as then constituted, should be adopted. November 21st the society by a large vote refused to build on that site. The question was re-opened at a later meeting, in December, and a controversy in regard to the qualification of some proposed voters became so clamorous that the moderator dissolved the meeting, and most of the people went home. The southern party then having the field, reorgan- ized the meeting and voted to build a meeting house on Break- neck hill. A committee was appointed for the purpose, and the

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

work was immediately carried forward. The " Breakneck party," though probably in the minority, had obtained the lead and were carrying things by storm. In the midst of the confusion and excitement that prevailed, a messenger was sent to report the irregular proceedings to the governor and council. On the day appointed for raising the meeting house frame, March 28th, 1744, a large company gathered on the ground. When the frame was partly raised the northern party arrived upon the ground, with a message from the governor and council ex- pressing the opinion that it was irregular and " high handed dis- order " for any party to carry forward the work of building, in defiance of the properly expressed determination of the society, even though the society had refused to do the bidding of the as- sembly. The opinion and advice was that it was the business of the assembly to see that its decrees were carried out, and was not proper for a part of the society to volunteer to act in that direction against the desires of the majority. The opinion and advice were not heeded by the builders, who went boldly forward with their work until the meeting house was raised and covered.

The disgraceful wrangle between the two parties was carried to the assembly, and so well balanced were their counter charges against each other in respect to irregularities and un- fairness that the assembly were at a loss to know how to decide between them, and postponed any action till October, when it decided that the meeting house should stand and be finished where it was. The Breakneck party were now in triumphant gladness, but the northern people, as well as those in the ex- treme south, were not disposed to accept the situation. Thus the Killingly First society was broken into many factions. There was the Breakneck party, who wanted the society to re- main with a meeting house in the center. In the north and south ends of the society were factions striving for a division into two societies, so that each could be better accommodated with a meeting house near them. Then, to add to the complica- tions, the Separate or New Light movements were raging at this time, and this made subdivisons of each faction.

In October, 1745, the assembly divided the society and made two distinct societies of it. Under this act each claimed the pre- rogative of being the First society, and with this dispute they again repaired to the assembly. This, however, was quickly set. tled in favor of the north society.

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

The First society and church now hastened to reorganize. The church at its reorganization, November 29th, 1745, was com- posed of the following members: Joseph Leavens, Sr., Joseph Leavens, Jr., Thomas Moffatt, Daniel Whitmore, Joseph Cady, David Roberts, Sr., David Roberts, Jr., Samuel Buck, John Brown, Ebenezer Brooks, Francis Whitmore, John Roberts, An- drew Phillips, Ephraim Day, Benjamin Leavens, John Leavens, Thomas Mighill. Reverend Pearley Howe was then pastor elect, and continued in that relation until his death, March 10th, 1753, being then in his forty-third year. His wife was Damaris, daughter of Captain Joseph Cady. He received the commenda- tion of being "a highly respectable and useful minister." By consent of the town the First society in the last end of 1745 pro- ceeded to pull down the old meeting house and to build a new one about a quarter of a mile north of it, on the "east side of the country road right against Noah Leavens' dwelling house," where an acre of land had been given for the purpose by Justice Joseph Leavens. The house now erected was said to be super- ior to any other in the county. It had three great double doors, opening east, west and south; large square pews, furnished with lattice work ; a high pulpit and sounding board ; galleries, front and sides, with rising seats and wall pews in the rear, and two flights of broad stairs leading to them. Reverend Aaron Brown, of Windsor, was ordained January 19th, 1754, and soon after married the widow of his predecessor. The society was divided into three school districts, each district maintaining its own school. The church and society were now prosperous. Rev- erend Emerson Foster, the successor of Reverend Aaron Brown, was ordained here January 21st, 1778, the society offering him £220 for settlement and £20 salary. Dissatisfaction soon arose, many withdrew to the Baptist society and it soon became diffi- cult to raise the money. In July, 1779, Mr. Foster was dismissed, and for a time religious services were maintained somewhat ir- regularly by Russel Cook and others for several years. Rever- end Elisha Atkins, of Middletown, was installed in the pastoral office here June 3d, 1787, the society granting two hundred pounds settlement, fifty-five pounds salary, and the cutting and drawing of the minister's firewood. The house was repaired and a belfry added and a bell procured and placed in it. Sampson Howe was to be paid twenty dollars a year for ringing the bell and sweeping the meeting house. Mr. Atkins proved a most ex-

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cellent pastor, and as a citizen was interested in all plans for public improvement.

The old church was becoming out of repair, and a new one was talked of in 1815, but nothing was done till the famous "September gale " damaged the building, so that repairs on it were no longer practicable. The remains of the old building were sold at auction, January 28th, 1818, and during the ensuing summer a new house was built on "that part of the ancient meeting house lot lying between Providence and Killingly Turn- pike, and the road leading to the new factory, so called, near the east side of said lot." It is said the " spirits " used in raising this frame cost twenty-five dollars.

Mr. Atkins continued in sole charge of the church on Killingly hill until 1832, when, after nearly a half century's service, he was compelled to employ a colleague. Reverends William Bush- nell, Sidney Holman and Henry Robinson, were successively in- stalled in office ; the latter remaining in charge several years after the death of the venerable pastor in 1839. Reverend James Mather appears to have been in charge of the church in 1846. Later history of this church will be found in connection with Putnam, in which town it is now situated.

The society of Killingly being divided, as we have already seen, into two societies, meeting houses and churches were es- tablished in both ends of the former society, and the meeting house on Breakneck hill not being available for either, it was of but little further use. It was used for various irregular religious services and for public town meetings, and after a number of years was taken down, and some of its timbers used in the con- struction of the town house at Killingly Centre. A few mould- ering gravestones on the rugged summit of Breakneck hill re- main to mark the neighborhood of its site. The church and society were by the organization of others reduced to the merest remnants, which soon faded out entirely, the church records be- ing destroyed by fire, so that the details of the Breakneck church are buried in oblivion. The church appears to have maintained strength enough to have a minister more or less of the time un- til about the end of the last century.

The inhabitants in South Killingly were permitted, on ac- count of their remoteness from the Killingly hill meeting house, in the winter of 1734-35 to employ a minister to preach to them during the winter season, though they were required to pay

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

rates to the regular minister the same as before. In April, 1735, the assembly granted the South Killingly people, who then num- bered about one hundred and fifty souls, liberty " to hire an or- thodox minister five months in the year, and freedom from the ministerial tax during that period." This temporary exemption from rate-paying did not become their permanent privilege until 1755, when they were released by the assembly from further charges to the South society, in which they were embraced in the division of 1745. This happy result was secured from the colonial government only by an appeal first to the throne of Great Britain in the reign of George II. The petition from South Killingly was the first to gain a favorable hearing in the colonial assembly.

The same year in which the church worshipping on Break- neck hill was instituted (known as the South church in Killingly) a Separate church was organized in South Killingly, December, 1746, with Stephen Spalding as clerk. In the early spring of the next year Stephen Spalding and John Eaton were chosen deacons. April 27th, 1747, Samuel Wadsworth was elected pas- tor. His installation occurred June 3d, 1747, some of the most respected Separate ministers being present to assist in his ordin- ation-Reverend Matthew Smith, of Stonington, Reverend Jo- seph Snow, of Providence, Ebenezer Cleveland, of Canterbury, Isaac Backus, the church historian, and Oliver Prentice, of Ston- ington.

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History of Windham County, Connecticut, Part 91

Author: Bayles, Richard M. (Richard Mather) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: New York, Preston Number of Pages: 1506

Author: Bayles, Richard M. (Richard Mather)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: New York, Preston
Number of Pages: 1506